Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment • Hacker News Board

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#91

Post by BurningFrog » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:30 AM UTC

surfmike wrote: post #20

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #14

It's a small step in the grand scheme of things... But it's a huge step (and commitment) coming from a single company. I can honestly say that no company the size of Stripe has even come close to being this "cool" (in a good way, not in a superficial sense) on so many things: company culture, remote-ok, perks, and now environment. At least from my point of view. Kudos. Lots of kudos. Keep the good work, guys. As a si…

Don’t you then need to worry about enforcement mechanisms to keep those trees from getting cut down? If they’re all harvested after say n decades, there’s no net effect on climate.

How long do you think this climate crisis will last?

If you think it will be over, or at least completely unrecognizable, in 50 years your - in itself valid - concern doesn't matter.

If I imagine people 50 or 100 years ago trying to plan to solve our problems in 2019, knowing what they did then, I don't think they could have accomplished much of anything of substance, even with the best intentions and the commitment of huge resources.

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#92

Post by rsanek » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:31 AM UTC

mapster wrote: post #59

I've seen a lot of tech companies carefully analyzing impact of commute. Essentially re-locating closer/central to employees like using the commutestudy tool. 100% public transit commute is a long term goal, so work/live distance should be as short as possible short term.

> 100% public transit commute is a long term goal

Why is this a goal? Public transit isn't inherently cleaner. What makes it environmentally more attractive than personal ownership of electric vehicles, or a transit system subsidized by the government instead of run by it?

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#93

Post by BurningFrog » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:32 AM UTC

nextos wrote: post #50

Areading314 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big polluters, like airlines, energy, transportation, and chemical companies are the ones that will have to take these steps to see any effect. Every bit helps, of course, but the cost of implementing something like this is doable for some, while for many would mean extinction, or fundamental changes to their business model.

I think we need to implement world-wide tax on pollution to avoid some crazy externalitiees. For example, cheap flights used frequently are a ridiculous luxury we cannot afford. I know lots of people that use budget airlines more than once per month to make weekend trips across Europe. The amount of CO2 they are putting into the atmosphere is simply insane. A bit more than doing the same trip by car, for each passeng…

A carbon tax is well known to be the rational solution to the problem. Even conservatives agree.

It just happens to be politically impossible.

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#94

Post by Proven » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:33 AM UTC

I couldn't care less.

If I were a Stripe shareholder I'd try to get the management fired or else sell the stock. The losers clearly can't focus on doing their job and should probably go to "work" for the government or a non-profit.

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#95

Post by CAPTUREJosie » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:33 AM UTC

Shameless plug here but anyone interested in helping us prototype test an app to track/gamify/offset daily carbon emissions? We are a start-up in Singapore called CAPTURE :) all about helping people become aware of the impact their daily actions can have on their carbon footprint, make it fun and add a little competition, then for what you can't reduce - we will offer in-app offsetting via CAPTURE forests, where you'll be able to track your individual trees and watch your forests grow via a monthly drone update! Would be super grateful for any feedback. Early stages but testers/those interested please sign-up at www.thecapture.club

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#96

Post by ian0 » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:45 AM UTC

brunoTbear wrote: post #19

alkibiades wrote: post #11

why should they waste investor money so they can feel good about themselves and feel “noble”. the most recent investors are suckers

You got downvotes, I hope because your tone isn't super productive, not because HN doesn't like the realist viewpoint you're taking.

Thats the opposite of realist. A realist would observe that the stripe founders own and manage stripe, that their investors probably do share the same ideals as them, that HR is challenging and this obviously wins favor, that people involved understand the global optimum (not damaging the planet) can be greater than the local optimum (maintaining low expenses for stripe) and on and on.

The comment was idealist, not realist.

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#97

Post by titojankowski » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:46 AM UTC

titojankowski wrote: post #72

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woohoo, 3 new applications so far!

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#98

Post by spenrose » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC

Wonderful leadership. Thank you, Stripe!

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#99

Post by kingbirdy » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:55 AM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #89

kingbirdy wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skateboards don't stay skateboards forever. Eventually they'll be thrown out, where they'll degrade & eventually decompose, re-releasing the stored CO2.

Mostly into the ground, no? Isn't that how petroleum was formed in the first place?

It depends entirely on where the skateboards and other wood-derived waste ends up. If it's not properly disposed of (e.g. litter), then it will release most/all of it into the atmosphere. If it's incinerated, it's all released. If it's in a landfill, it depends on whether and how effectively the landfill is sealed.

Re: Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment

#100

Post by tgog » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 2:02 AM UTC

aVx1uyD5pYWW wrote: post #90

>This leads to Stripe’s Negative Emissions Commitment. We will seek to purchase negative CO2 emissions at any price per tCO2, starting immediately. We expect that the best price will initially be very high: almost certainly more than $100 per tCO2, as compared to the $8 per tCO2 we pay for offsets. We don’t expect to be able to sequester all of our carbon emissions, both because the relevant technologies are not yet…

Sequestration means literally filtering CO2 out of the air. Offsets are essentially just a contract that someone who would otherwise have created emissions, won't. For example, instead of deforesting an area I own and selling it for wood, I might sell an offset contract and keep it intact.